Snape’s Worst Memory

What I am going to tell now is one of my most absurd theories/ideas!!!

FACTS:

• Sirius tells to Harry in the Order of the Phoenix that James and Snape were always “at loggerheads”. After James started dating Lily too, there were at loggerheads, but not in front of Lily.
• The memory in the chapter "Snape's Worst Memory" is Snape's worst memory (obviously). Even though Snape doesn’t say that, JK has said.
• JK had said before the release of the Order of the Phoenix that we would come to know something very important about Lily in the 5th and the 7th books. We see Lily only in Snape's worst memory.

 

DEDUCTIONS:

• What we see about Lily in this memory is very important.
• It just couldn’t be one of those bad memories. JK is very particular about her “choice” of words which means it is indeed the “worst” memory. If James and Snape were always at loggerheads – fighting in front of everybody, then why should that particular memory be Snape's worst memory???? So WHAT is special in that memory which makes it "the worst"???(Till here everybody will agree I think)
• Other than James and co, there was someone else this time around – Lily. Is she that special person who made that memory “the worst”??? This can be the only possible reason (Some of you might not agree but this has to the reason, as JK has given lot of importance to Lily here and JK has made that memory Snape's worst memory, not a random bad memory)

REASONS:

Since Lily's presence mattered to Snape there, you need to consider her presence w.r.t Snape there i.e. what was the interaction b/w them? The interaction was – Lily supported Snape but that couldn’t have made that memory worse.

Snape called Lily a mudblood. Now could this be the reason??? There’s no other possible reason, is there??? (Not as far as I can see)

Snape might not have really minded calling her that then, but after a certain stage, I think he started loving her. Now I think he has this guilty conscious feeling. He thinks he is responsible to her death since he told the prophecy to Voldemort. He regrets to have called her a mudblood once, when she had come to his help. That feeling has made that memory “worst”.

It all depends on the character of a person with what you take as your “worst” memory/day/time. It may be the loss of someone you love. It may also be the time in which you didn’t realize the worthiness of that person and hurt him/her. It may be something else too. It just depends on your personality/character.

JK has said that Snape knows about “love” which makes him more “culpable” than Voldemort. I think he now regrets his "evil" doings and that’s why that memory “haunts” (a strange choice of word??) him.

I know I am going to get a lot of criticism and/or a lot of praise. Let it come. I will be pleased with whatever I get.

Snape’s loyalty

I have come across some very interesting information in mugglenet.

Snape is a double-crosser

Snape – the Dark Lord

They are very well written editorials.

It is convincing but I am not yet convinced completely.

 

It assumes that (what I have understood from what it says)

• Snape brought “Voldemort’s downfall” by telling the part-prophecy to him i.e. Snape knew the complete prophecy but didn’t say it to him.
• Snape requested Voldemort to not harm Lily and knew that Lily would give the protection of LOVE to Harry and the killing curse would backfire on Voldemort.

 

There is no direct proof for/against Snape saying only a “part” of the prophecy to Voldemort intentionally.

If Snape knew the complete prophecy, Dumbledore would know that he knew it, and if Voldemort had got even a small idea about the prophecy, then Dumbledore would suspect Snape to be behind it, but as we very well know, Dumbledore trusted Snape till the end.

There are people who think Dumbledore asked Snape to tell the part-prophecy to bring about Voldemort’s downfall but I don’t think he would risk the Potters’ life (including Harry Potter) – considering that he had no idea about the protection Lily could give to Harry and he doesn’t believe too much in fortune telling to work on Trelawney’s words (he blamesVoldemort to have acted foolishly on Trelawney’s words which obviously means he wouldn’t have done the same foolish thing).

 

Now, there is proof that Snape, Dumbledore, Voldemort and Lily didn’t know before, about the protection which Lily gave to Harry – not in the books but in J.K. Rowling’s interview just after the release of Half Blood Prince

"MA: Did she know anything about the possible effect of standing in front of Harry?

JKR: No – because as I've tried to make clear in the series, it never happened before. No one ever survived before. And no one, therefore, knew that could happen."

(She=Lily)

It definitely rules out Snape or Dumbledore knowing/predicting about that protection.

So there is a flaw in the theory which says Snape is a double-crosser and which says Dumbledore made Snape say a part-prophecy to Voldemort.

 

Book facts which say about Snape’s loyalty towards Voldemort and/or Dumbledore

 

In the Philosopher’s Stone:

• Snape says that he didn’t know Voldemort was behind the Philosopher’s Stone and he just saw the “weak” Quirell behind it. Even Harry came to know that Voldemort was the “main” person behind the Philosopher’s Stone. Now, you will have to agree that Snape is a very good wizard. So couldn’t Snape realize that??? Dumbledore wouldn’t have shifted the Stone from Gringotts to Hogwarts, thinking about someone like Quirell – it was done keeping Voldemort in mind and Snape would very well know that. So I think he lied.
• Snape says he saved Harry’s life as he had to, in front of Dumbledore. If Snape can fool Dumbledore about his loyalty to Voldemort, then fooling Dumbledore about the threat to Harry’s life would be positively easy!!! So again I think he lied.

 

In the Order of Phoenix and the Half Blood Prince:

• Snape informed the order that Harry had been to the Ministry of Magic but in Spinner’s End, he conceals this information from Bellatrix.Snape knew that Harry would have been lured to the Ministry of Magic by Voldemort from the beginning. If he was faithful to Voldemort, he would not have said it to the Order and could have somehow fooled the order and Dumbledore.

So I can surely say that Snape hasn’t been “completely” faithful to Voldemort.

 

The only thing which can surely determine Snape’s loyalty towards Dumbledore’s is Dumbledore’s “death”. There is lot of doubt in this incident. There are many things which haven’t been clearly stated in the book (to maintain the suspense, obviously). So I can’t surely say thatSnape is faithful to Dumbledore, but I believe he is.

 

 

 

First Class

In all the books, all the classes of Harry, we have come across has some significance for the future i.e. JK has written only those classes which have some significance. In other words, JK has rarely mentioned something in the classes which has no significance, be it some magic or event.

Snape’s First Class:

We come to know about Bezoars and Wolfsbane whose importance we learn later. We also come to know about the Draught of Living Death but we haven’t come across it later, or have we????

These are some of Snape’s first words to us…

“I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death… “

mmmm.. stopper death.. What could that mean??? Does it have some connection with the Draught of Living Death potion??

I think Snape indeed knows how to stop death. It might be a potion or a spell, which he might have invented.

Sluggy’s First Class:

We come to know to about the 4 most powerful potions – Polyjuice, Veritaserum, Amortentia and Felix Felicis. We knew about Polyjuice potion and Veritaserum earlier but we come to know more about Felix and Amortentia later.

Another potion is mentioned in this class – the potion the students of the class have to brew for which the winner will get Felix Felicis – the Draught of Living Death. JK wouldn’t have mentioned it twice, without it having any significance!!!

I came across this view – about the Draught of Living Death…

The WATER in the Cave

The logic explained in that site seems to be good. So it is a very good possibility.

Now for my own ideas –

Stopper death:

We definitely doubt Snape to have put the killing curse on DD. I think Snape put some curse through which he stopped DD’s death i.e. he stopped the effects of the green potion, DD was made to drink. It also probably saved him from the fall off the tower.

I know this is very unlikely but my justification is – JK can spring up surprises and make impossible, possible. Something maybe added to this or removed from this to make it possible.

Draught of Living Death:

Maybe this can be used to “stopper death” too.

In the US edition, DD has said to Draco about faking death. Definitely, this potion could be used to fake death. This is quite straight forward.

Has it been used to fake death??

To fake DD’s death??? Maybe… Quite possible…

Anyone else’s death???? I have my own suspicions here. I will tell that shortly, in a different post.

Intro

At last I have decided that my blog will also play host to my views on the Harry Potter series. I actually didn’t want it to mix this up with the other things that I post in my blog but I could find no other alternative and so, I will be including it here itself.

I have been posting my views in Harry Potter related communities in orkut for a long time now. I can’t put them all here but without that there won’t be any flow in some of the things that I say here. So among those previous posts, I will put those posts which I think is necessary.

If you are interested and if you are a member of orkut, you can check out my views in this link.

My posts in an orkut community

I have posted the same views in many orkut communities. The response I got varies. This is the community in which I got the least response and I am utilizing that to my advantage. It’s easier to go through all my views in this community as there are practically no responses here and all my views are posted here like it is done in a blog!!!

 

I will try to do my level best to come up with the latest news on the last book.